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There remains an obvious gap in the acculturation literature, which relates to cultural change associated with the majority/dominant group. This paper explores how majority members react to a perceived expectation from minority members that majority members should undergo cultural change. A study was conducted exploring how majority members' perceptions of a demand by minority members that the majority should adopt the minority culture affects the majority members' preferences for minority acculturation, and whether effects are mediated by perceptions of symbolic threat. Two hundred sixty‐six participants who self‐reported being white British completed an online survey. A model was hypothesized whereby a perception that minority members demand that the majority takes on the minority culture predicted perceived symbolic threat, which was in turn negatively associated with a desire that minority members should maintain the minority culture, and positively with a desire that minority members should adopt the majority culture. Results supported the hypothesized model, with all individual paths and indirect effects significant in the hypothesized directions. Symbolic threat mediated the effect of perceived demand for minority culture adoption on majority preferences for minority acculturation. Findings are discussed in relation to implications for intergroup relations in culturally plural societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The article comments on reports published in the 2007 special issue of the "International Journal of Psychology" about the role of social change in human development. Occupational attainment and mobility represent all the aspects of psychosocial development which are influenced by the constraints people live with.

This paper investigates the association between perceptions of broader changes in the social-ecological context and individuals’ subjective well-being (SWB). Macro-level societal changes such as globalization or demographic change give rise to new demands for individual functioning at work and/or in the family. Such new demands associated with social change are stressful and likely to be related to lower levels of SWB. Being active agents, individuals attempt to deal with social change and its increasing demands to protect their SWB. The present study investigates which kinds of control strategies are most effective in protecting one's SWB. Specifically, we predicted that control strategies of goal engagement will be most effective under conditions of perceived high control, and control strategies of goal disengagement will be most effective under conditions of perceived low control. In a large sample of 2537 German adults, work- and family-related demands associated with social change were found to be negatively linked to SWB. Moreover and in line with the motivational theory of lifespan development, control strategies of goal engagement and disengagement were beneficial for SWB to the extent that they matched the perceived control of the demands associated with social change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of a systematic review of literature on the psychosocial wellbeing of populations in Central and Eastern Europe during the transition period subsequent to the fall of the Soviet Bloc. A revision of research addressing emotional wellbeing trends in this period and theoretical models was carried in order to verify their validity in the analysis of empirical studies. Hence, a systematic bibliographic review was conducted, aiming to find possible subjective mediators between social variables derived from changes and emotional wellbeing. The results of the review show that subjective mediators such as locus of control, perceived control, self-efficacy beliefs, perceived familial support, and the subjective evaluation of social change explain part of the relationship between macrosocial changes and emotional wellbeing. Results appear coherent with proposed multidimensional models of social change and mental health, although further research should be conducted to determine the specific weight of these phenomena in individual emotional wellbeing. Cet article présente les résultats d’une revue systématique de la littérature concernant le bien-être des populations de l’Europe centrale et de l’Europe de l’Est durant la période de transition suivant l’effondrement du bloc soviétique. Un examen de la recherche portant sur les modèles théoriques et les tendances du bien-être émotionnel durant cette période est fait pour vérifier leur validité à travers l’analyse d’études empiriques. Donc, une revue bibliographique systématique est menée pour trouver de possibles médiateurs subjectifs entre des variables sociales venant des changements et le bien-être émotionnel. Les résultats de cette revue montrent que les médiateurs subjectifs comme le locus de contrôle, le contrôle perçu, les croyances d'auto-efficacité, le support social perçu, la perception du soutien familial et l’évaluation subjective du changement social expliquent en partie la relation entre les changements macrosociaux et le bien-être émotionnel. Les résultats semblent cohérents avec les modèles multidimensionnels du changement social et de la santé mentale, bien que d’autres recherches devraient être menées pour déterminer le poids spécifique de ces phénomènes dans le bien-être émotionnel individuel. Este trabajo presenta los resultados de una revisión sistemática de la literatura sobre el bienestar psicosocial de las poblaciones de Europa Central y del Este durante el período de transición posterior a la caída del Bloque Soviético. Se llevó a cabo una revisión de investigaciones sobre las tendencias de bienestar emocional durante ese período, así como de modelos teóricos con el fin de verificar su validez en el análisis de estudios empíricos. Para ello se realizó una revisión bibliográfica sistemática con el propósito de encontrar posibles mediadores subjetivos entre las variables sociales derivadas de los cambios y el bienestar emocional. Los resultados de la revisión muestran que mediadores subjetivos tales como locus de control, control percibido, creencias de autoeficacia, el apoyo famliar percibido, y la evaluación subjetiva de los cambios sociales explican parte de la relación entre los cambios macrosociales y el bienestar emocional. Los resultados parecen coherentes con los modelos multidimensionales de cambios sociales y salud mental ya propuestos, sin embargo nuevas investigaciones deberían llevarse a cabo para determinar el peso específico de estos fenómenos en el bienestar emocional individual. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of International Journal of Psychology is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

China has experienced dramatic transformations over recent decades, which has significant implications for childrearing. This study examined whether Chinese parents' perceived social change would mediate the association between family socioeconomic status (SES) and children's involvement in various learning activities in the home, community and extracurricular contexts. The study included 312 urban Chinese parents with preschool‐aged children. Parents completed measures on perceived social change, their involvement in children's home literacy, numeracy and play activities, as well as children's participation in community‐based activities and commercially provided extracurricular activities (EAs). The results indicated that higher‐SES parents perceived more opportunities and prospects and less work‐related risk and adversity as a function of social change. Parents who perceived more opportunities and prospects were more involved in almost all types of children's learning activities except EAs. Parents who perceived more work‐related risk and adversity only showed decreased involvement in home literacy activities. Parents who endorsed new values more strongly were more likely to enrol their children in EAs and demonstrate greater involvement in children's home literacy activities. The findings revealed substantial within‐group variations in parents' subjective experiences with social change and how parents' perceived social change might shape their ways of organising children's learning environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over twenty years back, the concept of development and the resource superiority in the West imposed on the Third World psychologists a relationship which since then has evolved from the stage of pure subordination through indigenization into a phase which might turn out to be relatively more collaborative. The purpose of this paper is to take a brief historical account of the process of this evolving relationship which also tends to change the concept of development itself. The purely economic concept of development through industrialization and individual efforts has yielded to an emerging view of development where economic, social, environmental, and other factors are integrated and centred around human development. While based primarily on the Indian experiences, the perspective developed here may have some relevance to the Third World in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the current environmental situation and social change in China, we explored the relationships between the Dark Triad traits (Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy) and environmental attitudes (beliefs regarding environmentally related issues), and the mediating roles of future orientation (the tendency to plan for meeting long‐term objectives) and place attachment (the emotional connection with the place of residence) in these relationships. Using a national sample from all 31 provinces of mainland China (N = 998), we found that the psychometric structure of the Dark Triad was well confirmed under Chinese culture. The Dark Triad as a whole was negatively related to environmental attitudes, but narcissism was not significantly associated with environmental attitudes when the three Dark Triad traits were considered as the predictors simultaneously. Future orientation and place attachment mediated the association between the Dark Triad and environmental attitudes. These findings enrich our understanding of the relevant variables of environmental attitudes and provide references for China's government and other developing countries to improve environmental issues. The uniqueness of narcissism could expand the understanding of the commonality and diversity among the Dark Triad traits, and an efficient tool of the Dark Triad was provided under Chinese culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides evidence for the long‐term affiliation between ecological and cultural changes in German‐speaking countries, based on the assumptions derived from social change and human development theory. Based on this theory, the increase in urbanisation, as a measure of ecological change, is associated with significant cultural changes of psychology. Whereas urbanisation is linked to greater individualistic values and materialistic attitudes, rural environments are strongly associated with collectivistic values like allegiance, prevalence of religion, and feelings of belonging and benevolence. Due to an increase in the German urbanisation rate over time, our study investigates whether Germany and the German‐speaking countries around show the presumed changes in psychology. By using Google Books Ngram Viewer, we find that word frequencies, signifying individualistic (collectivistic) values, are positively (negatively) related to the urbanisation rate of Germany. Our results indicate that predictions about implications of an urbanising population for the psychology of culture hold true, supporting international universality of the social change and human development theory. Furthermore, we provide evidence for a predicted reversal for the time during and after World War II, reflecting Nazi propaganda and influence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers have investigated the implications of social change for human development from different perspectives. The studies published in this special section were conducted within Greenfield's theoretical framework (2009). The findings concerning links between specific sociodemographic features (e.g., commercial activities, schooling) and individual cognition and social behaviour are particularly interesting because they tap the underlying forces that drive human development. To further understand the issues in these studies and in the field, a pluralist-constructive perspective is discussed, which emphasises the integration of diverse values and practices in both Western and non-Western societies and its effects on the development of sophisticated competencies in individual adaptation to the changing global community. In addition, several issues are highlighted and some suggestions are provided for future explorations in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese people have held collectivistic values such as obligation, giving to other people, obedience and sacrifice of personal interests for thousands of years. In recent decades, China has undergone rapid economic development and urbanisation. This study investigates changing cultural values in China from 1970 to 2008 and the relationship of changing values to ecological shifts. The conceptual framework for the study was Greenfield's (2009) theory of social change and human development. Changing frequencies of contrasting Chinese words indexing individualistic or collectivistic values show that values shift along with ecological changes (urbanisation, economic development and enrollment in higher education), thereby adapting to current sociodemographic contexts. Words indexing adaptive individualistic values increased in frequency between 1970 and 2008. In contrast, words indexing less adaptive collectivistic values either decreased in frequency in this same period of time or else rose more slowly than words indexing contrasting individualistic values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We studied the implications of social change for cognitive development in a Maya community in Chiapas, Mexico, over 43 years. The same procedures were used to collect data in 1969-1970, 1991, and 2012-once in each generation. The goal was to understand the implications of weaving, schooling and participation in a commercial economy for the development of visual pattern representation. In 2012, our participants consisted of 133 boys and girls descended from participants in the prior two generations. Procedures consisted of placing colored sticks in a wooden frame to make striped patterns, some familiar (Zinacantec woven patterns) and some novel (created by the investigators). Following Greenfield (2009), we hypothesised that the development of commerce and the expansion of formal schooling would influence children's representations. Her theory postulates that these factors move human development towards cognitive abstraction and skill in dealing with novelty. Furthermore, the theory posits that whatever sociodemographic variable is changing most rapidly functions as the primary motor for developmental change. From 1969 to 1991, the rapid development of a commercial economy drove visual representation in the hypothesised directions. From 1991 to 2012, the rapid expansion of schooling drove visual representation in the hypothesised directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of epistemic thinking focuses on how people understand and coordinate objective and subjective aspects of knowing and make sense of multiple and discrepant knowledge claims. Typically described in terms of normative development, cross-cultural studies show differences in epistemic development and characteristics of epistemic thinking. This study focuses on within-culture variations of epistemic thinking, with the assumption that social change will produce changes in development. Arab society in Israel has undergone notable change over the last half century. In this cross-sectional research design, cross-generational comparison and rural-urban comparison were used as proxies for longitudinal social change. Three generations of Muslim Arab women in a village in Israel (20 adolescents, 20 mothers and 20 grandmothers) and 20 Muslim Arab adolescents from a large, mixed city in the same region responded to six dilemmas invoking epistemic thinking. Village adolescents were more subjectivist than their mothers and grandmothers. Sociodemographic characteristics representing greater exposure to diverse people and ideas accounted for generational differences. Both urban and rural adolescents tended towards subjectivist perspectives, and they did not differ. Parents' education levels emerged as the sociodemographic variables most consistently related to epistemic thinking. Epistemic thinking mediated the relationship between generation and gender role/cross-sex relation values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Journal of Psychology is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Video Abstract [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]